Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright’s teams in London, New York, Paris, Singapore and Washington have successfully advised on two mining projects in Guinea.

The team assisted bauxite producer Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée (CBG) in reaching financial close for the financing of its Sangaredi bauxite mine’s expansion and advised exploration and development company Alufer Mining on the signing of the debt, equity and offtake documentation for its Bel Air bauxite asset.

Norton Rose Fulbright global head of business Martin McCann says these deals represent important milestones for CBG, Alufer and, more generally, Guinea, and that the firm is “delighted to see two long-standing clients achieve strategic goals”.

The debt financing, provided to CBG by investment organisation International Finance Corporation (IFC), US government development finance institution Overseas Private Investment Corporation and several commercial lenders, represents the largest foreign investment in Guinea and one of the largest mining financings in recent years.

IFC’s debt funding, announced on September 6, 2016, includes a $135-million loan from its own account and a $65-million loan from its managed colending portfolio programme. The loan has a tenor of 15 years which is triple the typical debt tenor for the private sector in Guinea.

The investment will support an expansion of the Sangaredi bauxite mine, which CBG has been operating since 1973, as well as help improve local infrastructure.

CBG is 51%-owned by Halco Mining, a consortium of three major companies – aluminium company Alcoa, multinational diversified miner Rio Tinto and alumina-based products supplier Dadco Alumina & Chemicals, and 49%-owned by the Guinea government.

The London, New York, Paris and Washington team, led by London-based McCann, worked together on all aspects of the transaction, which took more than two years to execute.
Alufer, an independent mineral exploration and development company, secured equity investment at the beginning of February from Mumbai-based Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers, pan-African multilateral development finance institution Africa Finance Corporation and mining-focused investment business Orion Mine Finance.

This included a mixture of equity and convertible debt as well as a senior debt facility to be provided by Orion. The first tranche of equity will be provided before the end of 2017, with the remaining equity and debt being provided during the year.

Norton Rose Fulbright advised on all aspects of the transaction,

which explains Norton Rose, was closed in challenging circumstances, within an extremely tight timeframe.

“The signing of binding agreements represents an important landmark for Alufer, which will now move into 2017 having laid strong foundations for the project financing of its Bel Air mine,” adds the law firm.

states that these transactions showcase the breadth of the firm’s global mining offering and demonstrate that it can seamlessly bring together experts from London, New York, Paris, Washington and Singapore to advise on some of the most challenging projects in the market.

“We keep being told that projects are struggling to access finance. Our experience is that finance is available; clients simply have to look to a broad spectrum of possible funders and be willing to use innovative structures. “That tends to drive new clients our way, as the liquidity needs to be drawn from all over the world and having advisers that are familiar with these structures can help to demystify the process,” says McCann.